


Sorry, I didn't realize we were together

by thefirstneonphoenix



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Dick's oblivious, Donna is a good friend, M/M, but Dick didn't realize, inspired by that one reddit post, so I guess it doubles as a get together fic, technically they're already in a relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28704756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefirstneonphoenix/pseuds/thefirstneonphoenix
Summary: Dick, as Donna put it, was a victim of heteronormativity.But that's fine, because he somehow ended up in a relationship anyways. Now to tell Joey he didn't realize they dating.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Donna Troy, Dick Grayson/Joseph Wilson
Comments: 18
Kudos: 49





	1. The Realization

**Author's Note:**

> Ideally I'll put the second part of this out sometime this week.  
> I've written so much in the past 10 days I don't know what's happening. I'm sure it will die down eventually though.

Donna was just leaving the lab when “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” began playing from inside her bag. She stepped into a water fountain alcove to fish it out.

“Dick?”

“Hi, Donna. I was wondering if you had any plans tonight.”

“Just some work. Did you need something?”

“I have a problem.”

“You have lots of problems.”

“Yeah but this time it’s a little bit of a serious problem. I think it would be easier to explain in person.”

“O-kay. Did you want to meet somewhere?”

“I’m currently at the diner across from your work.”

“Of course. I expect nothing less from a child raised by the Bat.”

“ _ Donna.” _

She laughed at him. “I’m on my way over. You already knew that I didn’t have plans, didn’t you?”

The silence on the other end of the line was telling. Donna laughed again and hung up. Time to see what Dick had gotten himself into this time.

When she walked into the diner it was to Dick sitting in the corner and staring at the opposite booth. He didn’t look up until she waved her hand in front of his face.

“Hello? Earth to Dick? You said you wanted to talk?”

“Yes. I did say that.” He grimaced. “Do you want to order food first? This is… pretty disastrous. I don’t know.”

That was ominous. Dick was usually pretty good at keeping up his act, even under the most dire circumstances. Donna began running through possibilities in her head. It was unlikely someone had died, this wasn’t the place for that news, and it was unlikely that urgent action was required, or he would have been more pressing. It could have been Bruce, although anymore Dick resorted to beating things up in the gym following their conversations. Or lack thereof. She decided to try for a lighter approach, and just order food before waiting for Dick to explain himself.

She rambled on about her work day until the food arrived, and then gave Dick a pointed look. He picked up his milkshake and took a long drink. Donna raised her eyebrow.

“Right. So. About five months ago, Joey came to the tower, right?”

She nodded.

“Well, I was a little suspicious, for obvious reasons, so I started spending more time with him to learn more about him, you know, to see if he’d trip up. Well, about two months after that, he invited me to dinner, and it was a little stiffer than what we’d been doing, but I didn’t think it was that strange. We kept hanging out over the past few months, and I really like him, a lot. So I guess I’ve just been spending inordinate amounts of time with him by default. At first just to gather information, then because he’s a legitimately great guy to be around.” He paused to take another sip, and Donna broke in.

“You started hanging out with him because you were worried about him betraying us, and then got a crush. That’s your issue? How does the dinner play into it?”

Dick raised his finger, “One, it’s not a crush. He’s just a good friend. Two, the dinner is, I think, when we started dating.”

Talk about whiplash.

“At least, I think we’re dating. I haven’t actually talked to him, but we definitely seem to be more coupl-ey than is standard in most friendships. We might actually just be good friends. But I think we’re dating. I realized it earlier today, because Wally was complaining about his roommate and his roommate’s girlfriend. You don’t want to know. I did some thinking, and, now that I reflect on it, him asking me to dinner was definitely in a date sort of way. I just didn’t pick up on it. Until now. And I need advice.”

That was… something. It sounded exactly like Dick, who had always been surprisingly oblivious when it came to dating and relationships. It took him years to figure out that he had a crush on Barbara, even though everyone who had ever known him could see it immediately. Donna bit her lip. This could be a delicate situation. It wouldn’t do to have relations within the Titans crumble, especially over something as ridiculous as this.

“I think, no, I know, that you’re going to have to talk to him about this at some point.”

Dick nodded, forlornly. “I know. I’m just not sure how to do it. I mean, how do I even bring it up? Where do we go from there?”

“Well. That’s probably going to depend on where you want to go with this. I mean, do you want to keep dating him?”

“I guess? I like being with him. He’s amazing. It’s just, I’m straight. And I feel like I’m leading him on because of that.” Dick slumped down into his seat and began to worry his lip, a nervous habit Donna had forgotten about existing.

“Dick,” she began as gently as she could, “I’m not here to define your sexuality, that’s for you to decide. But I’m asking you to legitimately consider that you might not be straight.”

His eyes shot up to hers. She continued.

“I’ve known you since the start of middle school, and I may not be the world’s greatest detective, but I’d like to think that I’ve noticed a thing or two. You talk about him like you used to talk about Barbara, and if that isn’t evidence in and of itself, I don’t know what is.”

“Yeah but, I’ve never been interested in guys before. Just girls.”

“Dick I think you’re a victim of heteronormativity.”

“Name one guy I was interested in.”

“You had a crush on Jerome Richards in your seventh grade class.”

“To be fair, he had really pretty eyes.” Dick’s own eyes widened. He blinked a couple times. “I don’t think I’m straight. Whaddya know. I feel like I should have noticed this.”

“A lot of people don’t, I guess. Especially when they’re bi, and it’s easy to just pass as a straight person. Besides, you had the most obvious crush on Roy, and I was  _ very _ aware.”

“I did not have a crush on freaking Roy Harper!”

“Your blush begs to differ,” Donna couldn’t resist sing-songing. “And Garth too. Although I was never as positive about that one. I honestly thought you knew.”

“Well I didn’t, and now it’s gotten me in trouble.”

“Look on the brightside. A lot of people dedicate years of their lives to getting relationships and fail, and here you are, succeeding all by accident.”

“That doesn't help me figure out what to do about it though.”

“But it does, doesn’t it? You like Joey. In theory, he likes you to. You just need to talk to him to confirm it, and then explain that you like him back, but were too much of an idiot to realize that you two were dating. Then you can ride off into the sunset with your new/continued boyfriend. See? Easy.”

“No. Not easy. What if I’m misreading it? What if he gets mad at me for not being upfront?”

“Richard Grayson. You spend your free time jumping off buildings and hoping a cord will catch you. I’ve watched you spit in the faces of so many people that you really shouldn’t have been spitting in the faces in. And you’re gonna get cold feet because of a boy? A boy who, might I remind you, has never been anything but kind and gentle, in all the time we’ve known him?”

“You’re right. I’ve faced worse.” Dick seemed determined now. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow. Tell him I like him a lot and want to be in a relationship with him, but that I’ve been embarrassingly oblivious this entire time - and he’s going to dump me for being an idiot, isn’t he?”

“Sometimes that’s a risk you have to take.”

“Can’t fly unless I fall. Whoop-de-doo. Sure would be nice if I could just ask Lilith how it all turns out.” Dick made a face, “I rescind that statement. I don’t want Lilith having any part of this.”

“Probably not,” Donna agreed. “And tomorrow. I’ll hold you to that. You will talk to him, and this will not be put off.”

Hopefully, all would go well. Donna had a feeling it would, but luck never seemed to work in their favor. Then again, maybe this once, things could go right.


	2. In Which Absolutely Nothing Goes Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick talks to Joey.

Dick woke up the next day to a text from Donna reminding him that he needed to talk to Joey. He took a moment to reflect on the fact that her persistence would not allow him to get cold feet and avoid it. That was probably a good thing, but he didn’t have to like it. To be honest, he was still reeling from the revelations of the previous day. In hindsight it was all so obvious. Him being bi, accidentally dating Joey…

The latter was definitely the more concerning of the two. Dick had no idea how Joey would react when he told him later that day. As he went about his morning routine, he felt anxiety twist in his gut and sit heavy on his chest. He liked Joey. A lot. He liked spending time with him, watching him paint or play his guitar. There was something about the way Joey carried himself that Dick couldn’t help but admire. Despite everything, he was always so gentle, so kind. He paid careful attention to everyone and everything around him.

The other day, while they were walking around the city, Joey had managed to spot a butterfly resting on a red brick wall. It was almost entirely blue and black, save for some white and red colored spots on the edges of its top set of wings. Even with all the training Dick had received so that he would pay attention to his surroundings, he hadn’t spotted it until Joey pointed it out. While they were there, Joey pulled out his notepad to make a quick sketch of it, and then later, after they had returned home, he began to paint it. It was one of Dick’s favorites so far, but he loved all of Joey’s paintings, if just because Joey had painted them.

Dick froze with his hand on the door knob. Roy’s voice echoed in his head, casually informing him of how whipped he was. He couldn’t afford to screw this up. He’d never be able to forgive himself if he did. With that in mind, Dick stepped out into the world. He had a couple classes before he would meet Joey for lunch, and it wouldn’t do to be distracted during them, especially with his already rapidly dropping scores. Balancing a vigilante life with school was hard enough, and now that he was the guy in charge, it just got that much worse.

* * *

The restaurant they were meeting at was just off campus, and when Dick arrived, Joey was already waving at him from a table. He slid into the seat across from him with a smile. Seeing Joey quieted his nerves somewhat. Joey had always been understanding, and they had been friends for a while now. There weren’t many ways that this could go sideways.

He took a breath. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Joey smiled back at him.

This was it. “So, we might need to talk about something. And before you freak out, it’s nothing bad, just… well, I guess you’ll decide once you hear it.”

Dick looked down at the table, studying the grain of the wood. “Basically, I was thinking about some things yesterday. And I realized I was bi.”

He made eye contact with Joey, who was looking at him with a pinched expression. 

“Did you not realize you like girls?” He signed hesitantly.

“Actually, I realized that I like guys. I also realized that we might have been dating for a… not insignificant amount of time. And I didn’t realize. Because I’m an idiot. And yeah, that’s basically all of it. So. Fun times?” Dick winced. There really was not an easy way out of this. To his credit, Joey didn’t seem to have freaked out yet, although his expression was unusually closed off.

After a long moment, he finally responded. “Do you want to break up?”

Dick internally rejoiced. Because Joey asking that question meant that they  _ were  _ dating, and Dick  _ hadn’t  _ misread the situation, and he could say  _ No, I don’t want to break up,  _ and then they could keep dating and all would be fine. Unfortunately, the universe decided to throw one more wrench in their relationship. At the moment Dick opened his mouth to speak, the waitress arrived at their table.

“Hi, what can I get for you?”

“Uh.” Dick glanced down at the menu on the table, while Joey handed her a post-it.

“I’ll have what he’s having!” Joey gave him a dry look. Dick gestured helplessly.

“Alrighty then,” the waitress said, “Your orders will be right out.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at them and left. Dick turned back to Joey.

“So, what  _ are _ you having?”

“The same as you, it would seem.”

“In my defense, I was a little distracted.”

Joey became more serious at that. He reiterated, “Do you want to break up?”

Dick paused. He hadn’t considered himself a deciding factor in this decision until now. If anything, he was expecting Joey to break up with him for leading him on.

“Alright. Um. No. I don’t.” Dick crossed his fingers under the table and continued, “I really like being with you, and it took me a while to realize exactly what was going on, but I don’t want to break up. If anything, I’d like to take you out on dates that we both recognize as dates, and do general courtship things. If that’s alright with you, that is.”

“It is.” Joey smiled softly at him. “We could probably skip meeting the parents.”

Dick grimaced at the thought. “We probably shouldn’t invite them to our wedding either. We could do a friends-only ceremony and then our families can find out from whatever surveillance technology they’re using to track us.”

Joey laughed, color rising in his cheeks. “You only just realized we were dating, and you already want to marry me?”

“That is the goal of dating, isn’t it? To decide whether or not you want to get married?” Dick realized that he might be moving a little fast, and panicked a bit. But he didn’t need to worry.

“It can be. If we want it to.” He looked across the table at Dick, an earnest expression in his eyes.

Dick swallowed. “We might want to wait a bit first? I don’t think Donna would let me get married so quickly. To anyone.”

Joey laughed, and Dick couldn’t help but wonder at how he had somehow managed to convince this wonderful, amazing man to like him without even trying. Haly’s would be in town within the month, and he knew exactly where he wanted to take Joey on their first officially two-sided date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dick's usually a very bright person, he's also usually more-or-less self aware. That was not the case in this fic, mostly for plot reasons.  
> Also, the butterfly I referenced is a real butterfly, and I even made sure that it lives in New York. It's called a Red-spotted Purple Admiral Butterfly, and you are free to look it up.


End file.
